Lloyd Finishes His Master’s Thesis

Two weeks ago Lloyd defended his Master’s thesis at the Institute of Plant Sciences and Microbiology in Hamburg. Our host was Prof. Dominik Begerow, who runs the Institute of Organismic Botany and Mycology and also heads the beautiful Botanical Gardens that surround the Institute of Plant Sciences.

Lloyd had used our software to look for diagnostic markers in six species of smut fungi. Smut fungi are a group of plant pathogens that infect such important crops as maize and wheat. For all six target species, Lloyd found candidate PCR markers with excellent in silico sensitivity and specificity. The next step would be to test these markers in vitro to determine their real-world sensitivity and specificity.

Lloyd is hoping to continue in science, for which we wish him all the best.